AMD has officially put their R9-290X + Battlefield 4 bundle up for pre-order, but there’s a catch: you’ll need to bite the bullet and take a risk.

By this point we all know that AMD’s R9-290X could very well be gunning for NVIDIA’s TITAN but no small amount of secrecy surrounds a number of its key metrics. Pricing, performance and power consumption remain big question marks but those items will ultimately dictate whether or not gamers actually buy the card.

In order to spark interest, AMD has released a limited number of these cards as part of a pre-order bundle with Battlefield 4. That’s good news for gamers who have been eagerly awaiting the R9-290X in the hope it will answer NVIDIA’s GXT 780 and TITAN. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, it looks like some retailers are asking for a $200 deposit for the privilege of being first in line. Naturally, this money will go towards the purchase of the card but for a product we know so little about, that’s a monetary risk some may not be willing to take.

For the time being only Australian retailers have pre-orders up so there’s still some hope that the deposits won’t be carried over to their North American counterparts. If they are, we’re sure this limited edition R9-290X will still sell out, but only to fans who absolutely confident in AMD’s price / performance ratio. For everyone else, it may be too much of a game of Russian Roulette.

Is it me or does it seem like NA can’t preorder these things yet? Honestly, October 3rd at 00:00 I was ready to put down the ~$700 for one of these things but I can’t find an etailer accepting preorders… I hate to say it but AMD really doesn’t know how to deliver. I honestly want to get rid of this housefire in my computer case and AMD won’t just shut up and take my money.

A fool and his money are soon parted. The only reason to have pre-orders before any official reviews are out is to get the gullible to waste their money. If it is indeed faster than a GTX 780, then it’s a safe bet. If it’s not, lol. I got my GTX 780 for $500.